Unfortunately here in the US (unlike Europe) we either never built or tore up most of our rail lines..... so you can't get to out of the way places at all for the most place and even for the bigger cities it is inconvenient. Granted our cities and towns are waaaay more spread out than most European ones are, and that make it inherently more difficult to provide effective service, but we certainly could be better.

I've looked at taking the train down to California or out to Las Vegas before and it would take several days... sometimes it would be faster to just drive because of the odd hours that the trains run, the limited routes and the infrequency of the connections. For some things it still is nice. I've take the train from Seattle to Portland before and it still is (or at least was... can't imagine with the price of gas that it still isn't) cheaper and nicer than driving.